Inspired by Ellsworth Kelly’s Austin, we present a concert on the boundaries of religion centered around music by Igor Stravinsky. This concert will juxtapose some of Stravinsky’s earlier work with his Catholic mass and four brand new Density512 commissions including a new oratorio by Ben Stevenson.

Local composers make an appearance in a new commissioning project, Symphony of Proverbs, from the mind of Executive Director, Nicholas Perry Clark. Over the course of four different commissioning projects, the goal of Symphony of Proverbs is to create a new large scale work through multiple composers highlighting our different ways of thinking. Three recent Butler School of Music graduates, Adeliia Faizullina, Akshaya Avril Tucker, and Ben Stonaker, will write short movements as the first installment.

Among other guests at the concert will be Ben Stevenson, another recent Butler School of Music graduate who will be writing a brand new oratorio for winds and choir discussing the impact his religious beliefs have had on him. Martin Kesuma, local pianist, also makes his soloist debut with Density512 playing Stravinsky’s Concerto for Piano and Winds.

Sunday, December 16th @4pmBig Medium

Density512’s Mad King weaves a tale of monarchy, madness, anachronism, and palace intrigue. Witness a head of state, King George III, train birds to sing and deteriorate into a disturbing state of insanity in Peter Maxwell Davies’s masterpiece of musical-monodrama Eight Songs for a Mad King. Discover the sweet counterpoint of Musica quince vocum attributed to the princess nun Leonore D’Este (1515-1575). Contemplate the connection with your darker self in Peter Maxwell Davies’s Tenabrae Super Gesualdo, an ode to the composer and Prince of Venosa who famously murdered his wife and her lover. Not for the faint of heart, Mad King is sure to be a thrill.

Fantasia on a Ground and Two PavansHenry Purcell and Peter Maxwell Davies

Hosted by Silent Films Out LoudOrchestra provided by Density512Thursday, November 1st @7pmThe Blanton Museum of Art

Be prepared to scream as Silent Films Out Loud makes its grand return for a triple feature of terror. Two horror classics of the silver screen - 1910’s Frankenstein and 1928’s The Fall of the House of Usher - along with the lightly frightful Buster Keaton short Haunted House will come alive thanks to new scores from Austin based composers Jackie Myers, Bob Hoffnar, Dave Biller and Jean Hasse.

The Haunted House (1921) directed by Buster Keaton and Edward ClineScored by Jackie Myers and Dave Biller

Buster the bank teller gets out of a sticky situation only to find himself in a house of horrors, chased by both police and counterfeiters, not to mention ghosts, headless ghouls, and the devil himself.

Frankenstein (1910) directed and written by J. Searle DawleyScored by Bob Hoffnar

Frankenstein, a young medical student, trying to create the perfect human being, instead creates a misshapen monster. Made ill by what he has done, Frankenstein is comforted by his fiancée but on his wedding night he is visited by the monster. A fight ensues but the monster, seeing himself in a mirror, is horrified and runs away. He later returns, entering the new bride's room, and finds her alone.

The Fall of the House of Usher (1928) directed by James Sibley Watson, Jr.Scored by Jean Hasse

American avant-garde cinema arose in the 1920s when inspired amateurs schooled in other arts turned to film. The Fall of the House of Usher is the most renowned and technically accomplished work of these pioneers.

The horn is done. It’s had enough. It’s tired of bending to the will of the orchestra, always playing by their rules. And in David Adams’s new Concerto for Horn & Chamber Orchestra, it won’t have to. Here, the horn creates the universe - a big bang born of horn physics, and the orchestra had better hold on for dear life, because for this piece, untamed sounds are woven into the fabric of their world. With elements of blues and funk, a 142-bar fugue, and over a half hour of music, you won’t want to miss this one-of a kind premier.

At Fast Forward Austin 2018, Density512 will team up with Graham Reynolds, HUB New Music, and One Ounce Opera to tell the story of Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage whose mathematical work gave rise to mid-19th Century mechanical computing and provided the foundation for the inventions we rely on today.

Finite DifferencesKenneth FroehichVersion for soprano and string orchestra commissioned by Density512Presented in collaboration with One Ounce Opera.

The Difference EngineGraham ReynoldsPresented in collaboration with Graham Reynolds and HUB New Music.

Finite Differences by Kenneth Froehlich, tells the story of Ada Lovelace, a woman born to a noble English family in 1815 who is recognized by some as the first computer programmer. Librettist John Grimmett writes that ("he" removed) "Kenneth saw a story in Ada that needed to be told, and soon, I began to see it for myself: a constant struggle for a young woman who could understand numbers beyond most of our abilities yet had so many words and feelings inside of her.

Called "the quintessential modern composer" by the London Independent, Austin-based composer-bandleader-improviser Graham Reynolds creates, performs, and records music for film, theater, dance, rock clubs and concert halls, with collaborators ranging from Richard Linklater and Jack Black to DJ Spooky and Ballet Austin. His triple-concerto for piano, violin, and cello The Difference Engine is "inspired by the ferocious pace of both Babbage’s thinking and the calculating speed of his invention." Graham will join HUB New Music and Density512 to bring down the house with this dynamic work. The performance will also serve as the celebration for the updated release of The Difference Engine on vinyl, via Sonic Surgery Records and pressed with brand new re-mixes from Orión Garcia (Peligrosa) and Demián Gálvez (Centavrvs).

Friday, June 22nd @8pmBig Medium

Claude Vivier, a homosexual Canadian composer, was murdered at a young age by a prostitute. His work Zipangu addresses the human need for companionship, a value that forges a strong tie with Anna Clyne's "rest these hands" which deals with Clyne's relationship with her mother.

Reena Esmail is composer-in-residence with Street Symphony in Los Angeles, a non-profit organization that creates live, free, on-site musical experiences of the highest artistic quality for people experiencing homelessness. She has dedicated her career to taking care of those who have nothing and so we dedicate a portion of our program on human needs to her.

The program will close with Julia Wolfe’s thrilling work for string orchestra, Fuel. Fuel will be accompanied by the Bill Morrison film that she wrote the work for highlighting the economy and human needs for industry in the fast-paced modern world.

Continuing Density512’s support of local composers and the Austin musical community, we present new works from student composers and alumni of The Butler School of Music. All proceeds from this performance will go to The Draylen Mason Fellows Program, a full-scholarship initiative of Austin Soundwaves designed to honor the legacy of Draylen Mason and help further the musical and personal development of high school musicians. Hosted by James Parker.

The first concert of a new series curated by Composer-in-Residence José Martínez, Stack Overflow explores acoustic music combined with digital audio processing and video. With the help of cables, computers, screens, and audio equipment, our live performers expand the realm of musical possibility to perform on newly created "super instruments" that redefine the scope of classical music.

Arcana presents its final concert of the 2017-18 season. Works by Stravinsky, John Williams, Ruth Crawford, Gould, Mozart, Holst, Nicholas Perry Clark, and of course Varèse, will be artfully paired with different foods designed by the Density512 team. Stemming from the latest Austin contemporary music collective, Density512, Arcana features works from all eras providing music for all kinds of classical music lovers. Whether you’re into the modernist blaring sounds of Varèse or the harmonious melodies of Mozart, this concert has something for you.

Performances on select weekend dates: April 7, 8, 14, 15, and 28, and May 5 and 6, from 11A–3P. A sunset performance on Sunday, April 22, from 4–8P, is presented in partnership with the Fusebox Festival.

The S.S. Hangover sculpture will be docked and visible from the shores of Laguna Gloria from May 7 through June 3.

Artist Ragnar Kjartansson’s kinetic sound sculpture S.S. Hangover, 2013, consists of a hand-painted boat sailing on the lagoon, occupied by a formal party of six brass musicians performing ethereal music by Kjartan Sveinsson. As if caught in a daydream, the S.S. Hangover sails in circles, transporting its occupants to nowhere. The black-tie-clad performers repeatedly play a lyrical score for hours that challenges their endurance while flirting with the potential for failure as time passes. Inspired by a set prop from the 1935 American film Remember Last Night?, a drunken comedy murder-mystery, Kjartansson (Icelandic, born 1976 in Reykjavik) restored a vintage Icelandic wooden fishing boat to its likeness. The artist previously enacted a version of this playfully romantic performance at the 55th Venice Biennale, where musicians seemed to have left a party in a beautiful hybrid Scandinavian-Venetian-Grecian boat, replete with a sail featuring a mythical and overly plump Pegasus.

Inspired by Varese's Octandre, Density512's premiere ensemble, Arcana, presents its first performance in collaboration with the Blanton Museum of Art. Density512 assistant director, Nicholas Perry Clark, uses the extensive sound world offered by the ensemble of winds and double bass to reimagine classic octets and perform entirely new works. Join us for this exciting performance and be on the lookout for future Arcana performances.

Monday, March 5th, 8pm // Public Workshop at UT Butler School of MusicWednesday, March 6th, 9pm // Improvised works at Carousel LoungeThursday, March 8th, 8pm // Concert at Museum of Human Achievement

Conduction, developed by the late cornetist/composer Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris, is a vocabulary of signs and gestures transmitted by a conductor to an orchestra, providing instantaneous possibilities for altering or initiating harmony, melody, rhythm, articulation, phrasing or form—a kind of middle path between notation and improvisation.

Something Borrowed explores our drive to make new work from old. World premieres of "re-composed" (Alma) Mahler, Schoenberg, and more!

We challenged some of Austin's finest emerging composers to "re-compose" and re-imagine songs for voice and piano by Alma Mahler to become new works for chamber orchestra. Featuring composers Akshaya Avril Tucker, Adeliia Faizullina, and Seo Yoon Kim, the "re-composed" lieder are paired with Songs of a Wayfarer by Alma's first husband, Gustav Mahler, and orchestrated by Arnold Schoenberg. Concert open with Ben Stevenson's version of Bach's "Contrapuntus VII" and closes with Schoenberg's Kammersymphonie No. 1, once described by a famous guy "hyperactive, acrobatic and not a little aggressive".

In Harmoniemusik, Density512 reimagines chamber wind music for the "harmonie", a small wind ensemble that served as a "party band" for 17th and 18th C. patrons. In the spirit of food, drink, and merriment, join come join us as we present music by Jonathan Dove and Eugene Bozza, both inspired by the strong tradition of the harmonie ensemble. And we couldn't forget some Beethoven!

Beethoven Resurrected brings to life the works of Beethoven mixed with accessible, modern repertoire. Michael Torke's Ash is a sharp, rhythmic work that answers the question "What would Beethoven sound like if he was alive today?" Following the Torke is the rarely heard Piano Concerto by masterful modernist, Joan Tower. "Homage to Beethoven" is inspired by several themes from his sonatas including the Tempest and Waldstein sonatas. Robert McDonald joins the orchestra to perform this work rarely heard work in the Austin area! The concert will conclude Beethoven's third symphony, Eroica, a revolutionary work with ideas that proved to be the impetus for the romantic era of music. One of Austin's favorite bands/quartets, invoke, will open up 30 minutes before showtime! Come early, grab a brat and a beer, and enjoy this exciting new initiative with us!

Alice’s Coltrane's singular musical style is a synthesis of influences that include Detroit gospel, Stravinsky, bebop, traditional Hindi hymns, and classical Indian music. The September SoundSpace will explore these diverse influences and present new work directly inspired by her legacy. From 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 24, museumgoers will be able to experience a variety of performances throughout the museum, including:

Density512 will present two new works in response to Alice Coltrane’s music: Akshaya Tucker’s recently premiered Shaam for sitar and sinfonietta in raga bihag, and a reimagined Stravinsky work by composer-conductor Jacob Schnitzer.